After playing the last six years without a glove, Henkel decided to give it a go in a practice round earlier this week and has kept it on today, helping him on his way to an opening course record 8-under 62.

The Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia rookie holds a one shot lead over fellow youngsters Jason Hong and Corey Lamb tied second, before a large group of players sit tied fourth at 6-under.

Among the group is Sydneysider Jye Pickin, who has been lingering around the top of the leaderboard in several Tour events this season but has been unable to breakthrough for a win as yet in his debut year.

Beginning his day on the tenth at Warragul, Henkel got into his work early with a birdie at 11 followed by an eagle at the par-5 12th. Two further birdies had him turn in 5-under, with the course record already in his sights.

A bogey at the fairly straight-away first halted the scoring, but only momentarily, as Henkel resumed his charge immediately storming home with four more birdies at three, four, six and nine.

“Been playing really solid lately, hitting a lot of greens, a lot of fairways, just waiting from them to drop and today they started to,” he said.

“Every time I went for a shot I was on the good side of the green and I think that’s pretty important around here. You can be pretty shortsighted on some of those slopes.

“Had a good caddie, good local caddie Max who helped me with a few things.”

Courtesy of the junior pro-am on Tuesday afternoon, Henkel found a last-minute caddie in Warragul junior Max, who provided some insightful advice on the interesting layout.

Rising through the amateur ranks with professional golf always on the horizon, Henkel’s ascension was dramatically altered following a car accident in 2019.

Suffering a fractured vertebrae, Henkel was sidelined from golf for 12-months, the sport becoming a distant priority throughout recovery. He is certainly making up for lost time now.

Having missed the cut at the Vic PGA at Moonah Link last week, the same venue he was successful at during Qualifying school earlier in the year, Henkel was quick to shift his focus to this week.

“It’s my first time here, so I came down and played Monday and Tuesday, just get two 18s in and see the place. Felt pretty comfortable standing on the 10th tee to start the day.”

It has been an interesting first year on Tour for Henkel. He played well in his debut at the PNG Open for a top-10 finish, but since then it has been a lot of middle of the road results.

“It’s been really great, really challenging,” Henkel said of his first year on Tour. “The kicking in the bum that I needed has been playing around that cut line for most of the events.

“Being around the bubble has been hard but it’s been good too, it’s made me a bit hungrier to play well and be up the top of the leaderboard.”

With Lamb and Hong just one back, and Pickin and co. within touch too, there are plenty of players all vying for the same glory at Warragul, a first Tour win.

Lamb is perhaps the man who desires it the most. After finishing runner-up three times, and twice this year, he knows it’s not far away.

“Just got to keep playing solid and then in the match play anything can happen,” said Lamb.

For Hong, while hungry for that first win all the same, the trophy would come with the added bonus of playing rights, which is gold for the Sydneysider who has just returned from college golf in the States.

“The dream is to get a win this week and then set myself up for January and the rest of the season through to the next,” said Hong.

“If not, I’m just going to have to keep Monday-ing in and yeah, just kind of go from there. But Q School in April, that’s the biggest thing.”